Wales is set to gain a new power plant with the potential to provide electricity to 1.4 million homes.

Energy Minister Charles Hendry today gave the go-ahead for SSE to build an 870 megawatt gas-fired power station near Port Talbot.

The Abernedd Combined Cycle Gas Turbine Plant will be built at the Baglan Bay Energy Park, on the former site of a chemicals facility.

Charles Hendry said: “This new power station will bring jobs and industry back to this disused site and will provide a boost to the nation’s energy security.

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“Gas is the cleanest and most reliable fossil fuel and it will continue to be a central part in the country’s energy mix during the transition to a low carbon economy.

“Long-term there is also a major opportunity for gas power stations like this to be fitted with abatement technology. This station will be built carbon capture ready, which means that eventually CO2 produced by the plant could be captured and transported for storage offshore.”

The Energy Minister today also gave SSE consent to retrofit its coal-plant in Fiddler’s Ferry, Warrington, with a selective catalytic reduction plant (SCR) to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides.

This will allow the company to fit SCR technology to the plant which would enable it to comply with new limit values for emissions of nitrogen oxides set under the EU Industrial Emissions Directive.

(BMcN/GK)